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| pseudonym | Senior Heliman - Location: Edmonton, Alberta - My Posts This: Topic Forum |
oh man... you are embarking on an adventure! So here are the main areas that you will have to think about.
Airframe: Gasser, Electric or crazy
This is a big one. You need to figure out if you want to go gas or electric. Gassers have vibration issues unless they are using a twin (Bergen Observer Twin and Industrial Twin as well as the Copterworks offering), but are the best if you need long flight times. Think still photography, inspection work, insurance work etc. If you are wanting to do film, well then you will want to go for the electric option for the smooth flight characteristics.
You could also go for a turbine like this one from http://skyreel.com:
that is a MOBB MovieCAT. In North America they are called VAIRO. Here is the manufacture page:
http://www.modellbau-bremer.de/heli...atts/index.html
you can also get them at http://variocanada.com or East Coast Helicopters.
Camera Mounts: front mounted or underslung.
This is a big choice as it also effects your airframe choice. By far the easiest and solution is to go for a underslung mount. This however brings the dreaded pendulum issue. Not to mention that you have to be very careful that your rotor head RPM doesn't create a resonance with the vibration cancilation equiptment (IE Shocks) on the mount itself. This makes the pendulium issue even worse. Lots of choices in this market. RR has more than a few companies advertising for these kinds of mounts.
Front mounted is proibily the best way to go, but it requires a dedicated camera ship and you will defininatly have to do some modifications in order to carry that weight up front. Some manufactures of mounts also make lower frames that make for a more plug and replace type experience. The Joker Maxi seems to be a very popular platform, but you can find lower frame sets for TREXes as well.
Camera Mounts: How many Axis?
After you have figured out if you want a front mounted or underslung setup, you need to decide how many axis you need for your camera. Minimal would be two, but more and more manufacturers are including roll as well. It isn't just the mount you will want either. You will need some sort of stablization for the camera mount so that it stays stationary while the heli gets blown around.
Stabilization
This is a pricey little bit of kit, but very nessisary. DJI makes a great system as does Helicommand. You want a way to have your bird hover and stay staionary. Unless you can dead hover a heli at 400' for 20 min, you will definatly want to get some sort of stablization. This is, by far, to wide a topic to cover in a post. There are many many ways to acomplish this, and advantages and disadvantages to each one. Some other offerings are WeControll from Viking Areospace, UNAV and MicroPilot.
Downlink and payload control
The chances of you getting approval for a single man opperation and legally fly are between nil and nothing. It just isn't going to happen, so you need to have a payload opperator and some sort of downlink and control system. For a stil camera you can get mounts that will mount on the eyepice and fits a small camera so that you can get vision. You can also get a board that fits to Cannon cameras that will allow you to control the camera from an Radio transmitter. Again, there are more than a few companies that offer these. Downlinks are a very complicated issue, probibly for another forum. You will have to decide what frequency you want to transmit on and if you want a base station etc etc.
LEGAL ISSUES
Oh the fun fun fun of this one. I really don't want to start a flame war, but search here on RR and you will find long long threads about this issue. Basicly, unless things have changed in the past few months, if you are in the US, you can't really do AP with UAVs. From my understanding, it requires a permit and there is no body or organization that grants them (Think the Marijiana Tax Stamps early this centruy). So if you put a heli up, you may be liable. Anyone know if this situation has changed? How goes the class action??
In Canada we are slightly more lucky. You will still need a certificate, but you can get one from Transport Canada. However, getting one is NOT easy and you need a new one for each and EVERY flight you take for money. On top of that, you will need to insure that you can meet the "Detect and Avoid" pervisions, which require spotters. You will also need to file a flight plan, saftey plan and insure that all opperators are properly trained. You can download the entire specification that you will need to meet online. Here is an overview page:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/civilaviation/g...ochures/uav.htm
As an UAV opperator under the weight limit and opperating at under 400', you will only have to fill out the "Short Form"... it isn't that short, but at least it isn't a book like the full application. Honestly expect to have to attend at least ground school so that you will know your way around an airport and the rules and regs invloved. Also, my reading is that you absolutly MUST have a failsafe option, so systems like the DJI or the new Helicommand aren't optional.
Hope that helps! If you have more questions I would be happy to help. I am about 50% of the way through the entire process.
~m
unspelling the world one misprint at a time. |
| 10-21-2009 03:36 AM | | | |
